Workers of steam era reunite

Past workers of the North Ipswich Railway Workshops are getting together to reminisce and reveal tales of their working life at a series of reunions during 2015 at The Workshops Rail Museum.

Each reunion will see workers from selected Workshops get together to share morning tea and memories of life at the iconic site.

The Dining Hall workers will reunite on 19 February followed by the Trimmers, Carriage & Wagon Builders and workers from the Paint Shop and Mill on 22 February, and Blacksmiths, Coppersmiths, Sheetmetal, Moulders, Patternmakers & Springmakers meet on 31 May.

Museum Director Andrew Moritz said workers have a knack for recalling names of co-workers and situations, even if it happened over 40 years ago.

"The workers have lived through fascinating times, with changes in our transport methods to the way we communicate and access information.

"As you can imagine this was a very different environment for the workers – they experienced the steam era when it was our super power for developing the state.

"It's entertaining to hear their stories from back in the day, when attitudes, procedures and policies where vastly different," he said.

"Take the way we approach Workplace Health and Safety, it's a prime example of how we've changed the way we work over the decades."

"The reunions are a walk down memory lane and time for reminiscing their hard working days and comradery."

Many reunion faces will be familiar, but for some this will be their first time returning to their old stomping ground, and seeing a Museum that has been created in honour of Queensland Rail workers and has preserved some the state's rich rail heritage.

Past workers can contact The Workshops Rail Museum on (07) 3432 5100 to find out when their Workshop is having their reunion.

The Workshops Rail Museum, part of the Queensland Museum Network, is winner of Australian and Queensland Tourism Awards for Heritage & Cultural Tourism.